Race Against Time
by Villains' Bad Girl
Summary: After the birth of their cubs, Frida is feeling unappreciative. Can Diego and their cubs show how much Frida means to them while they try to survive a sure-death catastrophe? Diego/OC Sequel to Me or Her
1. Family Life

_Hey-O! This was a long time in the making, but I hope everyone hasn't gotten tired of Frida and Diego yet! Welcome to the new story! I own nothing except Frida and the cubs._

* * *

It was a beautiful day in the valley, almost like any other day. The weather was warm, the skies were clear. There was only one thing different that made today special.

Frida sat in her and Diego's den with all six cubs. She was trying to give them a bath, trying to get them ready for tonight.

"Mom!" Sasha whined as Frida ran her tongue through her daughter's fur.

"Kids, if you want to get out of here faster, then stop fidgeting."

"But, we don't want to take a bath!" Dom said.

"Diego, say something!" Frida sighed, tired of arguing with their cubs.

"Kids, listen to your mother", Diego answered from outside the cub.

She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to the cubs. That was Diego these days. Never taking responsibility, always making her the bad guy. It had been a long time since the herd had moved to their new island. Things had changed since then. Peaches was now engaged to a mammoth named Julian. Sid was finally having some luck with the ladies, if anyone could call it that. Shira had gotten along with nearly all of the animals in the valley.

"Kids!" Diego called from outside the cave. "Lunch is ready!"

"Food!" the cubs smiled.

All six of them ran outside and dug right into the fresh aardvark their father had brought home for them. Frida sighed, seeing their faces being caked with blood.

"Great…" she mumbled. "Now they'll need another bath."

"Kids will be kids", Diego said with a smile. "What can you do about it?"

"Gee, I don't know. How about you give them a bath this time?"

"Frida, you know they're not going to listen to anything I say. There's one thing every little kid knows. Daddies mean fun, mommies mean business."

Frida sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I give up!"

She turned away and looked at the cubs, watching them lick their teeth with a smile, full from their meal. Frida shook her head and stormed off into the woods. Diego gave a sigh and looked at the cubs. They all wagged their little tails, with a smile on their face.

"Dogpile on dad!"

The cubs pounced on their father, nuzzling him, ticking him with their small paws. Diego couldn't help but laugh as he rolled on the ground, playing with his cubs. Although he and Frida had petty arguments about the cubs, he couldn't be more happy.


	2. Time Apart

Frida growled as she walked through the woods, leaving the cubs with Diego. She needed a break from it all. She babysat the cubs, she bathed them, made sure they were happy and taken care of. All Diego did was bring them food. Frida was doing most of the work.

"Frida, hey!"

Shira smiled as she walked toward her cousin. Frida looked at her and sighed as she tried to calm down. Shira was still single and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. She had no responsibilities to worry about, much unlike Frida.

"Hey, Shira", she said. "How's it going?"

"Just about to go on a hunt", Shira answered.

"Mind if I join you? I need to get out for a while."

Shira looked at her cousin a little worried. This was the first time Frida ever asked to go hunting to get away from her family. She nuzzled her softly as she looked at her.

"Frida, is everything okay?" Shira asked. "You seem pretty down about something."

"Just the joys family life getting to me…" she shrugged with a sigh. "I could really use some time to myself away from Diego and the cubs."

Shira's ears flattened against her head as she started to walk again. She hoped things between her and Diego were going to be okay. They had one of the best relationships anyone had ever seen. There could be no two tigers who were more in love and meant for each other than Frida and Diego.

"Well, you can go ahead and hunt with me then", Shira said.

"Thank you", Frida sighed as she walked with her cousin.

* * *

Diego sighed as he relaxed with Manny. The cubs had run off to play, allowing him time to himself. He didn't know where Frida was. She had just up and left him with the cubs. Diego shrugged it off and looked at Manny who was complaining about his own problems. The two males smiled as they hyraxes began serving drinks. They had made a nice bond with the small creatures who were happy to help them with anything they needed.

"Women", Manny scoffed.

"Yeah, women", Diego sighed. "What about them?"

"I don't get them. Like Ellie. Life's great with her. There's no surprises, nothing ever changes. But then, today… she giggled. Does Frida ever just giggle?"

Diego looked ahead when he heard the roar of a saber. He sighed relieved to see Frida with Shira who were busy hunting a deer. He watched the two females snarl and growl as they chased their prey.

"Shira's not a big giggler", Diego shrugged. "Frida on some occasions can."

"Well, Ellie giggled", Manny said. "And then she wiggled. It was weird."

He gave an example of what happened, acting girlish for a moment before bumping into Diego.

"Women…" the men sighed.

"Hello?" Sid called out.

"And speaking of weird", Diego rolled his eyes.

Manny and Diego turned to see Sid stumbling their way. His eye and his nose looked infected and irritated. He seemed to have been crying. The two of them watched as Sid bumped into Manny's butt.

"Oh, hi Manny", he said. "Ew! Your breath is awful!"

"What happened to you?" Diego asked looking at him.

"Oh, nothing", Sid said. "Everything is great. Fabulous!"

"Let me guess… she dumped you?"

No one could say they didn't see it coming. Sid was really desperate to find a mate. He was the only male in the herd that was still single.

"What is wrong with me?" Sid cried. "Everybody has somebody. All I got are my boyish looks and this mariachi band."

Sid was really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Everyone knew he was desperate, but they didn't think he was insane enough to put together a band like that for a date. Sid continued to cry as he picked up some poison ivy and blew his nose on it, as well as wiping his eyes.

"So burning and itchy!" he moaned.

"Come on", Manny said knocking it out of his hands. "Let's go get you cleaned up."


	3. The Party

Diego looked at the six cubs around him. He had leaned them, making sure they were presentable.

"Remember, I want you all to behave yourselves", he said.

"But dad", Hunter whined. "Grown up parties are so boring! There's never anything to do."

The other cubs nodded as they started to grumble. Diego looked at them and sighed. How Frida was able to put up with their behavior, she would never know. He walked with the cubs to the decorated opening in the valley. Diego sighed in relief to see Frida with everyone else waiting for Manny.

"Hey", he said. "The cubs missed you."

"Hey, mom", the cubs mumbled, not wanting to be there.

Frida looked at them with a smile, happy to see Diego had taken care of them. She looked at him and sighed.

"What would I do without you?"

They looked up as Manny started looking around, finding it too quiet.

"Ellie! Peaches! Where is everyone?"

Ellie took this chance to come out of the tree she was hiding in. All of the animals in the valley came out of their hiding places.

"SURPRISE!"

Music played as everyone cheered, beginning the celebration.

"Happy anniversary, honey!" Ellie smiled.

"Anniversary?" Manny mumbled.

Frida gasped and looked at Diego surprised. Manny forgot their anniversary? Diego looked at her and shrugged. He wasn't expecting Manny to forget something as important as this.

"Okay, your turn, bro-dad!" Julian smiled as everyone waited to see Manny's gift to Ellie.

"Manny! Manny! Manny!"

Everyone cheered as they waited for Manny's surprise. Frida looked at him disappointed and shook her head. That was possibly the worst thing a husband could do to his wife. Everyone stopped cheering as Manny turned to Ellie.

"How about another hand for Ellie?" he nervously said.

"He forgot!" everyone gasped. "I feel so bad for Ellie…"

Everyone gasped and stopped what they were doing when they heard an explosion. Everyone looked up at the sky to see lights exploding into different colors. Frida looked at Diego and looked back at the sky.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know", Diego said. "But everyone seems to think that was Manny's idea. Come on, let's go eat."

"What are we supposed to do?" Dom asked as the cubs looked at them unhappy.

"Why don't you go play with those kids over there?" Frida suggested, looking at the other kids that were there.

The two adults smiled as they picked up a batch of berries to eat, being polite enough not to hunt any animals during the party.

"So, listen Frida", Diego started. "I wanted to apologize for making you leave earlier today. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"I just wish sometimes you could take responsibility for the kids the way I do", Frida said. "I mean, I'm always the one who bathes them. I make sure they're punished when they do anything wrong. All you do is just hunt for them."

He looked at his mate with a sigh. Taking care of the cubs made him tired and he could understand what she went through. Diego licked her cheek softly and nuzzled her. Frida looked at her husband and smiled as she nuzzled him back. The two of them turned and watched as their cubs sat by themselves, watching the other kids play. It was almost as if they didn't want to go play.

"I worry about the kids", Frida said. "I wish they had some friends."

"Why don't they have friends?" Diego asked. "Sure, they're sabers, but they're just cubs. I'd understand if they were like us, but they're not."

The two of them stepped closer to try and hear what the kids were saying.

"You know…" Amber said. "Sometimes I wish we weren't sabers."

"Yeah", Aiden said. "Everyone's either scared of us or laughing at us. Calling us little kitties, asking when we're going to grow up into mom and dad."

"Or saying we're not allowed to play because we'd hurt everyone with our claws and teeth. It's not fair."

"Yeah…" the cubs sighed.

Diego and Frida looked at each other, worried about their cubs.


	4. Meteor Shower

"Well, I have to say", Shira smiled as she sat with Diego and Frida. "This is probably the best party I've ever been to."

"I know", Frida nodded. "Manny's really going to have to outdo himself next year."

Everyone was having a great time, dancing to the music, all the food they could eat. Diego smiled as he watched his mate mingle with the other animals. It made him happy to see Frida in a better mood. He caught her eye as she turned and looked at him. She walked over to him and nuzzled him.

"Amazing night, isn't it?" Frida asked as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah", he said.

"Almost makes me think what you'll do for our anniversary", she smiled.

Diego looked at her and gave her a smile. Their anniversary wasn't for a while, but he had no idea how to top a party like this. The fun sounded like it was about to end. Many and Ellie started arguing about Peaches' future. Like normal, everyone was going to stay out of it before Sid got their attention.

"Does that look like a problem to you?" he asked pointing to the sky.

Frida and Diego looked up at the sky to see what Sid was talking about. The sky was lit up with a large fireball heading toward them. The cubs whimpered as they gathered around their parents.

"Diego…" Frida gasped.

"A ball of fire heading directly toward us?" he asked. "Why would that be a problem?"

She gasped as he turned away to tell Manny what was going on. Shira looked up at the sky, her ears flattening when she saw the fireball. She gathered with the cubs.

"What do we do?" she gasped.

Before Frida could speak, everyone turned to see Manny start to stretch and pretend to yawn.

"Okay", he announced. "Party's over everybody! Have a good night, and leave now!"

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked confused. "The party just got started."

"Yeah", Manny yawned. "Just getting kind of sleepy. Everyone should go, and duck. Possibly cover!"

Everyone looked up in the sky to finally see what Manny was freaking out about. The large fireball flew over them and crash landed in the woods with an explosion.

"Look!" one of the animals shouted. "There's more coming!"

Sure enough, there were more balls of fire falling from the sky, hitting the valley.

"Meteor shower!"

Instead of running for safety, Ellie chose now to argue about why there was a meteor shower. Everyone had assumed this was supposed to be an anniversary gift for Ellie, but now the truth was out. The heard looked at Ellie and Manny, wanting to leave now.

"Come on!" Diego said. "We need to take cover!"

Everyone turned to start running. Manny and Ellie carried Sid and Granny on their backs. Diego and Frida ran with their kids following them. Shira followed behind the cubs, making sure they stayed together. The meteors were coming closer and closer.

"Tree!" Eddie yelled as he pointed behind everyone.

"Mom, Dad!"

Frida looked behind them, gasping as a tree came crashing down behind them. She turned and ran back behind the cubs, grabbing two each, one in her mouth, one hanging onto her back. Diego and Shira looked at her and followed suit, grabbing the rest of the cubs, just in time before a meteor crashed behind them. The large flaming rock followed the herd through the valley, heading to the frozen lake.

"Everyone, jump!" Manny yelled.

Everyone jumped off the path, onto the large mass of ice. The meteor fell off the path, landing in the center of the frozen lake. The ice started cracking, making everyone run.

"The cave!" Manny pointed. "Get inside! Move, move!"

Everyone headed into the cave and gathered around, unsure of what else was going to happen. Everything was shaking around. Rumbling echoed throughout the cave until it started to occur less and less.

"Hey, it sounds like it's slowing down", Sid said getting up.

Everyone watched as he walked toward the cave, seeing nothing outside.

"Yep, it's definitely over!"

Just as he spoke, one more large meteor came crashing down in front of the cave, burning everything within range. Ellie pulled him away, revealing all the fur in front of Sid's body had burned off.

"Except for that one…" he moaned in pain.

Trees and rocks fell in front of the cave, trapping everyone inside.

"We might want to think about moving underground for a little while", Manny spoke up.


End file.
